Muse
by stripesandpandas
Summary: A collection of stories in which Santana and Brittany study different forms of visual and performing arts and find themselves being each other's inspiration.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee**

* * *

_Music. _

_Chapter 1: Her Song_

"Ugh, this is ridiculous!" I flopped down on the living room couch and buried my face in my hands.

"Britt, you okay?" That was my roommate, Rachel. She stood up from the ground where she had been pouring cat food into a bowl for my furry partner in crime, Lord Tubbington.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just," I sighed. "I keep losing the Sound."

Rachel walked over to the couch and sat down next to me. "Ah, right. This is about the Sound."_  
_

I guess I should explain what the Sound is. See my name is Brittany Pierce and I'm a music major in college. I eat, sleep, and breathe music. For a while now, I've been trying to compose my own piece and although I don't know exactly what I want my piece to sound like, I have the faintest idea. Except that every single time I get close to the sound that I want, it slips away.

"I just don't know what to do, Rachel. I've been trying to work on this for weeks and I've got nothing. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't gone insane yet."

"Look, Brittany, I don't know what it's like to create music." That was true. Rachel is a singer, she doesn't write songs, she just belts them out of her lungs. "But, just loosen up a bit and don't think too much into it. I'm sure your Sound will come to you eventually if you just relaxed some."

"Yeah, maybe that's it. I just need to relax."

Rachel smiled and patted my arm. "There you go, take my advice. I'm hardly ever wrong."

I was about to break it to Rachel that she usually was wrong about a lot of things, but she got up from the couch and left to go into her room before I got the chance to. A split second after she closed her room door, I could hear her starting on her vocal warm ups. That was my cue to leave.

Living with Rachel is awesome, but I never bothered to stick around whenever she started singing. Don't get me wrong, Rachel is simply a phenomenal singer, but if I have to hear her belting out the lyrics to Don't Rain on My Parade one more time, I'd end up drowning myself.

I got up from the couch and grabbed my music sheets off of the table. Maybe I could get inspired by something while taking a walk. I opened the door to our apartment and stepped out into the hallway. Almost immediately, I got knocked off my feet by a mountain of fur and felt something warm and wet against my cheek.

"Whoa, Maddie! Bad girl!"

I recognized the voice. I looked up and saw my neighbor, Quinn Fabray trying to control a very large dog that I could only assume was Maddie.

I stood up from the ground and grinned. "Hey, Quinn."

"Hi, Brittany," Quinn said in a strained voice as she was still trying to get the dog under control. "I'm sorry about Maddie knocking you over. I guess she's just really excited."

I waved off her apology. "It's cool. Anyway, when did you get a dog?"

"Oh, Maddie's not mine. She belongs to a friend who's staying over at my place because a pipe burst at her own apartment."

"Oh, cool." I bent down and patted Maddie on the head. Quinn seemed to have finally gotten her under control and held on tightly to her leash.

"Well, I'll see you around," Quinn said and started leading the dog to her apartment.

"Yeah, later."

After I left the apartment building, I started walking around. I didn't have a clue where I was going, but hopefully I was headed somewhere that would give me an idea for my song.

I passed bakeries, gas stations, little kids playing and messing around with each other, teenagers bragging about how many Twitter followers they had, and couples being disgustingly cute. And out of all that, absolutely nothing gave me any ideas.

I checked my phone for the time. I had been walking around for almost an hour. I decided to go back home so I turned around. Unfortunately, there was someone walking behind me and as soon as I had turned around, I crashed into them. The unexpected force sent me tumbling back and for the second time that day, I found myself flat on my ass.

My music sheets had fallen out of my hand and scattered across the sidewalk. I hurried to grab them before the wind blew them away.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The stranger I crashed into said.

"No, it's fine, I-" I looked up and my breath caught in my throat. Standing in front of me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my entire life.

Her face looked as if it had been sculpted by angels, she had gorgeous brown eyes that reminded me of my mom's homemade brownies, and her lips...oh god, her lips looked so soft and kissable. Every inch of her just screamed perfection. For a second, I wondered if I was even worthy of being in her presence.

"Here, let me help you with that," She said as she reached down and picked up some of the stray music sheets. I stood up from the ground and brushed off my pants.

"Oh, uh, th-thanks." I laughed nervously and became very aware of the fact that I was most likely blushing. The woman glanced at the sheets as she handed them to me.

"Huh, are you a musician?" She asked. I didn't trust myself to speak in fear of making an utter fool of myself, so I just nodded.

"That's cool. I have a friend who's into music and the performing arts."

I couldn't help but stare at her lips the entire time she was talking. I think she noticed because she slowly licked her lips as if to torture me. I blinked and looked up into her eyes.

"That's nice. Are you, uh, into music?" I wanted to keep her talking so she wouldn't leave just yet.

"Well, I enjoy singing. Does that count?"

"Yeah-yes, definitely. My roommate is a singer, actually."

"Hmm, then I guess we have something in common."

"You and me or you and my roommate?" I asked nervously. As much as I loved Rachel, I would have to kill her if I knew that she had more in common with the goddess standing in front of me.

The woman laughed. It was like joyous music to my ears and for a girl who completely lived music, I found that to be groundbreaking.

"I meant you and me," she said. "Well, I should go. It was nice meeting you, um..."

"Oh, Brittany!" I damn near shouted. If it were any more possible, I blushed harder. "My name's Brittany," I said in a quieter voice.

"Well, Brittany, it's been fun. I'm Santana, by the way. Hopefully, I'll see you around." With that, she walked away, but not before sending me a quick wink over her shoulder. I just about died.

* * *

So, it took Rachel all of two seconds (and I did count) to notice how giddy I was.

"Alright, you either found your Sound or..." She did a little excited jump. "Or you met someone!"

I groaned. "Rachel, it's nothing."

"Nothing?" She took my hand and led me to the nearest mirror. "Britt, look at your face. You're practically glowing!"

I rolled my eyes and walked away from Rachel. In no time, she was at my side again. "Come on, just spill!"

"There isn't anything to spill, Rach. I went for a walk, I came back home. That's it. End of story."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, don't tell me anything. I'll find out sooner or later."

"M'kay, you have fun with that," I mock saluted her with two fingers then started to leave to go into my room when Rachel spoke again.

"And just so you know, Quinn invited us over for drinks with her friend tonight. We're going."

"Yeah, alright." I went into my room and made sure the door was locked before letting out a squeal of excitement. I had just met the sexiest girl to ever walk the lands of the USA and had a conversation with her.

I fell backwards onto my bed and Lord Tubbington, who had been chilling in my closet, ran out and jumped onto my bed, right next to my head. I gathered him in my arms and held him close.

"Oh god, Tubbs. This girl...she's so fucking beautiful. Her face is perfect, her body is perfect, even her name is perfect. Santana." I sighed blissfully. "And her laugh. Wow, her laugh is magical. It's not like your average 'ha ha ha' laugh, no it's more like...the sound of a hundred violins playing in perfect harmony, creating the most beautiful sound ever."

I sighed again, replaying Santana's laugh in my head. I stayed that way for a good minute, then I froze. I sat up so suddenly that Lord Tubbinton jumped.

"Violins," I murmured. I glanced at the music sheets I had placed on my bedside table and it was like a shock of electricity ran through my body.

"Violins," I repeated. "Tubbs, that's it! The calm, yet effective sound of violins playing in perfect harmony. Oh my god, how did I not think of that before?"

My mind wandered back to Santana's laugh. After weeks of not having any ideas for my sound, just thinking about her laugh had inspired me. If I had any chance of completing my piece...

"I have to see her again." A smile spread widely across my face. I don't think I had ever been happier about anything in my life. I had found my muse.

* * *

"Britt, are you ready?"

Rachel and I were getting ready to go over to Quinn's apartment. I didn't know what to wear since we were just going over for drinks so I just settled for a light blue V-neck and my favorite pair of dark skinny jeans.

"Yeah, I'm almost finished. I just need to grab some shoes," I called back.

I looked inside my closet and picked up the closest pair of shoes I saw, which turned out to be my black flats. I slipped them on and left out of my room.

"Kay, now I'm re-" I stopped talking the second I saw what Rachel was wearing. She was dressed in a long, elegant gown the color of solid gold with matching heels.

"How do I look?" She asked. I was honestly too stunned to answer right away.

"Oh my god, Rachel. You do realize that we're just going across the hall not to the president's dinner, right?"

"Of course I know that. What's wrong with wanting to look nice?" Rachel said defensively.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but don't you think you're overdoing it? I mean, you look great, but we're just going to Quinn's place for drinks. Maybe you can wear that some other time, like on a date to a fancy restaurant."

I seemed to had gotten through to her because she asked, "You really think it's too much?"

I nodded. Rachel thought about it for a minute. "Alright, I guess I can change into something more casual. Just give me a sec."

She left to go back into her room and I sat down on the couch to wait for her. Ten minutes later, she came out in a button down shirt and a skirt that stopped just above her knees.

"Better?"

I gave her a thumbs up. "Totally. Come on, let's go."

We finally left and walked down the hall to Quinn's apartment. When we got there, I knocked on the door and it opened not too long after. Instead of Quinn greeting us, Maddie the dog bombarded me once again. Luckily, I didn't fall backwards this time.

"Hey, you guys," Quinn said as she came into view. "Sorry about Maddie. Again."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm kinda getting used to it now," I smile and scratched Maddie behind the ear. Rachel and I walked inside Quinn's apartment. I had only ever been here once before and I thought it looked very nice then. Now, there were boxes and suitcases all over.

As if reading my mind, Quinn said, "Sorry for the mess. Like I said, my friend is staying over and she has a lot of crap."

"So, where is this friend?" Rachel asked, sitting down on the couch. I did the same and Maddie curled up next to my feet.

"She's just finishing getting ready. She should be done soon- oh, here she comes." Quinn pointed in the direction behind me so I turned around. My eyes widened at the girl walking towards us.

"Rachel, Brittany, this is Santana. Santana, meet Rachel and Brittany," Quinn said. Rachel stood up to greet Santana. They shook hands and exchanged "Nice to meet you's". Rachel sat back down and then Santana's gaze shifted over to me. I couldn't help but smile so hard that all of my teeth were showing. I probably looked creepy so I dialed it down a bit.

"Hi, Brittany. It's funny seeing you again." Santana smiled back and did the cutest little wave.

The way she was smiling at me made it hard for me to breath so I said the only thing I could manage.

"Yeah, uh, same."

"You guys have already met?" I thought that was Quinn speaking or maybe it could've been Rachel. Hell, it could've been Maddie who had asked the question, I wasn't really paying attention to them. My eyes had yet to leave Santana's.

"Yeah, we just sorta bumped into each other earlier today." Thank god Santana answered. If I opened my mouth, something embarrasing most likely would've slipped out. Santana walked past the couch and sat in a chair that was almost directly in front of me.

"So, before we get to the drinks, why don't we get to know each other better," Quinn suggested. I finally turned away from Santana and looked at the other two.

"I think that's a great idea," Rachel said.

I glanced over in Santana's direction once more and grinned. I'd love to get to know her very well.

* * *

"Oh my god, no way!"

"I swear, I'm telling the truth!" Rachel exclaimed. We were taking turns telling each other random facts about ourselves and Rachel had just confessed to having a very disturbing fetish for men wearing animal prints when she was in high school. Quinn seemed to find that extra funny and couldn't stop laughing.

"Kay, Britt. It's your turn," Rachel said, ignoring Quinn's laughter.

I took a sip from my cup of wine that Quinn had given to all of us halfway through our getting to know each other game and thought for a second.

"When I was sixteen, I got a tattoo on my waist of the red M&M guy."

Santana started laughing and my heart soared because I heard the sweet sound of violins again. "Seriously?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yep."

"Can we see?" Quinn and Rachel both asked.

I stood up and lifted my shirt just enough for them to see it. Quinn and Rachel started laughing at the sight of it. Meanwhile, Santana simply stared at it and bit her lip. I swear, she was trying to drive me insane. I pulled my shirt down and sat back on the couch.

"Who's next?" I asked.

"That would be me," Quinn said.

We kept telling each other about ourselves up to the point where we were so tipsy from our wine that our facts were getting to be the silliest things. No matter how buzzed I was getting, I made sure to pay close attention to every word that came out of Santana' s mouth. Everything that she said, I commited to memory.

I learned that she had owned Maddie since she was a puppy. The first time she drove a car, she crashed into a bunch of trash cans. She was a cheerleader in high school and she still is one now, and that she once ate an entire tray of cookies and threw up thirty seconds afterwards.

My favorite fact of all was when she confessed that she found musicians to be very sexy. Quinn and Rachel were too drunk to realize what she had said but I swore she looked straight at me when she had said it, but I was too wired to be sure.

Once again, it was my turn to say something. We were all now huddled in a circle on the floor and Santana was sitting so close to me, I could smell her perfume. I was so hypnotized by her that Rachel had to call my name three times to get my attention. Santana sent me a fleeting smirk before turning away.

"Okay, uh..." Thinking of more interesting facts was getting to be complicated because I had already said so much. I decided to say the first thing that came to mind.

"My cat has a gambling problem."

After the words left my mouth, everyone started laughing. The alcohol must have been doing wonders because I didn't think what I had said had been that funny, but no one could stop laughing. In fact, Santana was laughing the hardest. She held on to her stomach and leaned into my side as she laughed.

I didn't have time to react to her body pressed against mine because the newly refilled cup in her hand tilted to the side just as her body did. The wine inside the cup spilled over the lid and into my lap. I jumped up from the ground as the red liquid seeped into my jeans.

"Shit. Brittany, I'm sorry!" Santana stood up also.

"There are some paper towels in here...somewhere," Quinn slurred.

"Nah, it's cool. I better take these off before the stain sets in. I'll be right back." I started to walk towards the door when Santana stopped me.

"Wait, um...can I come with you?" She asked in a whisper. I didn't understand why she would want to come with me but I didn't question it so I just nodded at her.

Together we hobbled out of the apartment and down the hall to my own. I clumsily unlocked the door and tumbled in, Santana close behind me.

"Your place is nice," she whispered. I giggled.

"Why are you whispering?"

"I don't know," she whispered again. Then she cleared her throat and in a normal voice, she said, "Sorry."

"It's okay." I smiled at her. "Well, I should probably get these pants off."

I froze at how sexual that sounded. I didn't think Santana noticed because she just said, "Okay, I'll wait here."

I turned and went to my room. When I was in there, I pulled off my pants and grabbed a different pair from my closet. I put those on and left out of my room and put my jeans in the washing machine. I went back into the living room and saw Santana looking at some picture frames on the wall.

"Hey." I walked up next to her and she turned to face me. She gave me a once over and snickered.

"Polka dot pajama pants?" She said. I looked down and realized that I was, in fact, wearing polka dot pajama pants.

"Oh, whoops. I guess I wasn't paying attention to what I put on," I laughed at my own silliness.

Santana laughed also. It wasn't like the loud laughter that had caused her to spill her drink on me. In fact, this laugh was the most beautiful one I had yet to hear. I still heard the sound of violins, but there was something more to it. It was like...the soft strumming of a guitar and a smooth piano medley.

I grabbed Santana's hand and pulled her towards me. "Can I show you something?"

Santana gazed into my eyes and nodded. "Okay."

I pulled her with me as I led us to my room. When we stepped inside, I turned on a small lamp in the corner giving us just enough light. I grabbed a music sheet from my desk and led us to my bed where I sat down on the edge of it, Santana following suit.

I handed her the sheet. "Look at that and tell me what you see."

She looked at the page and shrugged. "I see a bunch of music notes on them."

"Yeah? Well, when we bumped into each other earlier today, that sheet had absolutely nothing on it. In fact, for weeks it had nothing on it. For so long, I've lacked the inspiration to write my own music. Today, that all changed. Can you guess why?"

Santana shook her head. "Why?"

"Well," I scooted closer to her. "Because of you."

Santana stared at me. I realized that I hadn't yet let go of her hand and I tightened my grip.

"You're saying that...I inspired you?" The last words came out of Santana's mouth as a breathless whisper.

"Mhmm." I brushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked her straight in the eyes.

"You see, Santana, sometimes my life feels like a movie. In a movie, there's always music playing in the background and you can always tell when something good or bad is going to happen based on the music. That's basically what my life has been like. It's kinda like, everyday of my life has been an ongoing symphony."

Santana nodded, urging me to continue.

"Well, the moment I saw you, that little symphony started playing the most beautiful sound that was like nothing I had ever heard before. It was so perfect. It gave me hope. Now, whenever I think of you, I hear that music. For weeks, I've been trying to find the perfect sound to create the perfect song and now I've found it and it's all because of you. Santana...you're my song."

We were looking at each other so intently now, I didn't think we could've broken eye contact no matter how hard we tried. I took a deep breath and waited for her to speak. For a while, she said nothing. Maybe it was because she thought I had more to say.

Then, she leaned forward and placed her forehead against mine. I felt my breathing quicken. She took her hand that I wasn't holding and placed it on my waist right above my M&M tattoo.

"Santana -" I started but was cut off. At that moment, her lips found mine.

The kiss was so soft and gentle that I totally forgot that I was completely turned on because of her. Santana's lips felt so amazing against mine that when she started to pull away, I put a hand to her cheek and deepened the kiss. She giggled into my mouth and slipped her hand that was on my waist under my shirt and started caressing the skin there.

I put a hand against her shoulder and gently pushed her back until she was laying on the bed. We broke the kiss for the first time only so she could move up so her legs weren't dangling off the side. I followed and settled on top of her, placing my lips back against hers. I ran my tongue across her lower lip and her lips soon parted, allowing me entrance.

The feeling of Santana's tongue on mine was so wonderful, I momentarily forgot how to breath. I don't know if it was because of the alcohol or because I was so turned on, but my mind was buzzing.

My hands had a mind of their own; they touched and caressed just about every inch of Santana's body. Santana was no stranger to contact either. Her hands had found their way up my shirt and squeezed at my sides. I gasped at the feeling, breaking away from her mouth just a bit.

Santana took the opportunity to attach her lips to my neck. She slowly sucked and kissed her way down to my collarbone. I moaned noisily at the contact and moved a hand down. My fingers gently played with the button on her pants.

At that, she stopped kissing my neck. Her gaze shifted up to me and we stared into each other's eyes once more. Her face was slightly red and her hair was messed up a bit, but I swear it was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen.

I waited for her to say yes or no. I wanted her so badly and I could only hope she wanted me too. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a familiar voice ringing through the apartment.

"Britt! Hey, Brittany! Where are you and Santana? Are you playing hide-and-seek? I wanna play!"

We froze at Rachel's voice.

"Shit," I muttered. I jumped off of Santana and started to straighten myself up. Santana did the same.

"What do we do?" She asked.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Just, uh...just be cool."

"Brittany, are you in here?" Rachel was outside my door now. I walked over and opened it.

"Hey, Rachel."

Rachel tumbled in and started giggling. It was clear she was totally wasted. "Hey, you guys! Yay, I found you. Now you gotta count while I hide."

She ran past us and hid inside my closet. Santana and I glanced at each other and I went over to the closet to open the door. When Rachel saw me, she doubled over laughing.

"You- haha, you found me. That was fun, let's do it again!"

Before she could do anything else, I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of my closet. "No, Rach, we're not playing anything."

Rachel pouted. "Okay, fine. I'm really bored, though. Quinn fell alseep on me and...hey, Britt, what's that on your neck?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "My neck?"

Rachel nodded and took a step closer to me. "Yeah, it's like...a red spot."

My eyes widened in realization and Santana gasped. I obviously had a hickey. I slapped my hand over the spot on my neck and took a step back from Rachel. I just had to pick this day to wear a damn V-neck.

I hoped that Rachel was too drunk to pay anymore attention to it. Naturally, I was dead wrong. Rachel's face went from confusion to shock in less than a second.

"Oh! You guys were..._oh__._"_  
_

I covered my face with my hands and groaned. I felt really bad that Santana had to deal with this. "Oh god, Rachel. Please don't-."

"Oh, hey. It's none of my business." Rachel held up her hands. "I'll just go and let you guys...well, you know."

She gave us both a thumbs up and giggled as she hopped out of the room. I shut the door and slid down to the floor. Santana joined me.

"That was so embarrassing. I'm sorry about that," I said. I couldn't even look Santana in the eyes.

Santana placed a hand on my knee and gently squeezed it. "Brittany, it's okay."

"Yeah, but, we were kinda in the middle of something and now the moment is ruined."

Santana raised a hand up and cupped my chin. She turned my face in the direction of hers. At first, I thought she just did it so I would finally look at her, then I felt her lips on mine.

It was a short, sweet kiss that left me breathless.

"I really like kissing you." I hadn't meant to say the words out loud, but I'm glad I did because Santana smiled her beautiful smile and pulled me into a hug.

"See, the moment isn't totally ruined," she said into my ear. I smiled as I hugged her back. Then I got an idea. I pulled away from Santana and stood up.

"What are you doing?" She asked, standing up also.

"You hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" Santana looked around the room.

"There's music playing," I said and took a step towards her.

"Music?" Santana scrunched up her face in confusion. "I don't hear anything."

"Really? Because I do." I looked at her expectantly. She raised an eyebrow and for a second I thought she wouldn't catch on. Then she smiled.

"But you said your life is like an ongoing symphony, so you always hear music," she said.

"Yeah, and you know what type of music I'm hearing right now? The soft, romantic kind meant for slow dancing."

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her body flush against mine. Her arms looped around my neck and she pressed her forehead up against my own.

"Are you always this charming?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Only when there's alcohol involved."

I couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face.

"I'm kidding!"

I tightened my grip around her waist and started swaying along to the imaginary music. Santana rested her head on my shoulder and nuzzled her nose into my neck.

"This is nice," I whispered. Santana nodded in agreement. We stayed that way for awhile. I closed my eyes and let out a blissful sigh. I was content with doing this all night.

"Brittany?"

My eyes opened at Santana's voice. "Yeah?"

"Thank you." Her voice was so quiet that I had barely heard it.

"For what?" I asked.

"For what you said earlier about me being your song. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. I know we only met today and we don't really know a whole bunch about each other, but I really like you, Brittany. I guess I just...I don't want this- _us_ to be a one time thing."

I leaned my head down and kissed Santana gently on the forehead. We had stopped swaying so now we were just holding each other.

"Santana, believe me, I think you're far too special for this to just be a one time thing." I grinned. "Besides, you're my muse. I need you."

Santana looked up at me and smiled. "I'm glad."

I didn't really know what else to say because I had basically said it all. So I kissed her. She kissed me back with just as much passion and need as our first kiss had been.

I don't know which one of us started moving because I was so lost in the kiss, but we soon found ourselves back on my bed. We kept kissing and kissing until we pretty much picked up where we left off before Rachel interrupted us.

It was just about the most amazing thing ever and let me tell you...the moans that came out of Santana's mouth made the best music of all.

* * *

**If you liked this chapter, I just want to say thank you for reading it! Also, for now this story is a three-shot (music, art, and theater) but if anyone would like me to write any other chapters involving a different study of art, I'd love to do so.**


End file.
